Limitations + Constraints = Creative Solutions.

by Dionne Aiken

Last Saturday I attended an AIGA Day Conference called Re:Solutions held at the Orlando Museum of Art.  The discussion for that evening centered on rethinking creative problem-solving approaches.   There were a host of noteworthy speakers who shared their experience and insight:

• Debbie Millman of Sterling Brands hit on some key points, explaining the dynamics of great design and operational excellence. She made it evident that good design is much more than meets the eye.
• Wright Massey, Founder of Brand Architecture talked about defining and capturing the true essence of a brand and bringing it out in the architectural language.
• Web guru Dan Rubin discussed how to create visually articulate and Web-compliant Web sites, despite the innumerable constraints and limitations.
• Jeremy Kennedy with his extensive background in publication design and made it clear that you can turn passion into profit.

All these speakers left the conference attendees (including myself) with a lot to think about and inspired us to challenge ourselves daily as designers.  There was one more speaker that really drove this message home when he showed us this video:

John Deeb, an Orlando Photographer and Director.  He created this spot using only photographic still images and with a budget of only $45. This is a great example of pushing creativity and turning limitations into opportunities to produce a quality product, rather than short-cutting the design process and creating something inferior.

These speakers challenged us to change our perceptions and views of constraints and inspired us to use them as fuel for new creative approaches and strategies at problem solving.  This is something that is not just limited to the design realm but can be applied to how we do business in our approaches to solutions for clients.  How can you turn your limitations into something great for your clients?

Creating a Direct Connection

by Dean Hybl

Last night when getting the mail from my mailbox, I was startled by a lizard that made its way into the mailbox and was holding tightly to the mail. After finally flicking him off the few letters in the box, I was even more surprised to see that the first letter, in a yellow envelope, was an advertisement for Geico, which features a type of lizard (the Gecko) in company advertisements.

While this direct product connection was obviously purely coincidental, it got me thinking about advertising and how Geico and other companies pay millions to create the kind of instant product recognition that I experienced when opening my mailbox.

There was an interesting article in Sports Illustrated last week talking about Peyton Manning as a pitchman for a variety of advertisers. The author admitted that he really didn’t care or remember what products Manning’s commercials were about, but he enjoyed Manning’s ads because he has a goofy sense of humor and isn’t afraid to make fun of himself.

While I’m sure Manning appreciated the comments, I’m not sure the advertising reps for MasterCard, Sony, Direct TV or any of the other companies that have paid millions of dollars for his services had the same appreciation.

With television advertising’s biggest event, the Super Bowl, coming up this weekend, I’m sure we will see a great deal of Peyton Manning, LeBron James and other current advertising favorites pitching products. It is always fun every year to see the latest ad gimmicks whether it is monkeys working in an office, an infant who purchases online stock or horses playing football. However, with the cost for ads during the Super Bowl running $3 million for 30-seconds (not to mention the cost for producing the commercials and securing talent), do these companies really get that kind of return on their investment?

While advertising and marketing are certainly important elements of promoting a business and products, when resources shrink you have to look at what will generate your greatest return. Studies have indicated that more targeted public relations programs designed to ensure that your message is reaching your specific audience are usually more cost effective than mass audience campaigns.

It is certainly impossible to be so targeted that you can start putting live lizards in people’s mailboxes. However recognizing your audience, understanding what they already know about you, what you want them to know about you and what you want them to do will ensure that the message you are sending gets to the right people and provides the kind of memorable connection that I received just by going to get the mail.

Silence is Not Golden in the Business World

by Kim Taylor

We’re seeing it everywhere we turn; organizations are cutting costs, trimming budgets and even resorting to cutting some expenses altogether. Dan Ward, VP and Partner with our firm, recently wrote this cautionary Op-Ed piece about the danger of silence in a down economy. It was published in Friday’s edition of the Orlando Business Journal.

What’s YOUR Story?

by Ashley Pinder

The building that houses the offices of Curley & Pynn is only four floors, so when we talk about crafting an “elevator speech” we know it has to be short and to the point.

I fancy myself a storyteller, so it is difficult for me to condense my story into something that can be shared from the time those elevators doors close to when they reopen again in less than a minute.

But, as someone who “relates to the public” I know having an elevator speech is a must.

Spawned from the idea that people frequently make important introductions in elevators, it seems obvious that this type of speech should be something in everyone’s arsenal.

Every employee of a company needs to be able to describe what he/she does and explain in succinct yet memorable terms their company’s mission and vision. But, the message inside the speech has to be about the people.

This became ever more apparent today when my coworker Kim Taylor and I attended a monthly FPRA luncheon in which social media guru Alex Hillman stated the simple yet often forgotten fact that: “people don’t relate to companies, people relate to people – it’s what’s inside the company that is important.”

That simple statement explains exactly why the elevator speech can be such an effective tool at humanizing a company and in sharing its story.

What does your company do? And what do the people inside of it like you do to make that happen?

What’s YOUR story?

If you don’t know it yet, take the stairs!

Showing a Client How to Make a Difference

by Barrett Johnson

When thinking about re-branding a client’s graphic identity – from the top down – including logo, collateral and Web site re-design, you may think it’s as easy as creating the logo, picking some colors and fonts, and slapping it on the paper … but have you analyzed the big picture, or have you just addressed their request?

Recently, we were tasked with this process for our client, a professional engineering, environmental, and surveying and mapping firm.

We thought, what if we could show them how to make a difference; and in doing so, they could show others that they care for their community, their state and beyond?

Our Creative Team brought an idea to them that would not only give them a new visual image, but show them how to do something ‘big picture’: We suggested they print their collateral pieces using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper.

The Forest Stewardship Council is a nonprofit organization devoted to encouraging the responsible management of the world’s forests. And, while there are many types of recycled paper out there, the higher the percentage of the recycled content in the paper, the less virgin trees are processed and used.

For a print job to be FSC-certified, the whole production process has to be monitored and handled by certified vendors … from harvesting the timber to the creation of the paper to the actual print process.

Once these guidelines are met, you are allowed to place an FSC certification logo on your collateral piece—a process being done more and more—from Pottery Barn catalogs to President Obama’s Inaugural invitations.

Analyzing the Big Picture, Not just the Snapshot is one of Five Steps to Professional Success we live by at Curley & Pynn. This time, we helped our client manage a precious resource: our forests.

Talk about Speaking Loudly …

by Roger Pynn

We’re constantly telling clients that they will earn good press for their actions.

I will forever be grateful to Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis for demonstrating that actions do in fact speak louder than words.

He and fellow directors jumped into the market today and personally bought up shares of Bank of America Corp. (BAC.N) and the resulting bump in share prices saw BofA share prices up nearly 32 percent in afternoon trading. Lewis alone bought 200,000 shares … that’s a $1.2 million statement and he paid about a half dollar above the previous day’s closing price per share on average.

If you want to send a message, first take action.

Maxortunity

by Dionne Aiken

In light of Kim Taylor’s post on how to Be a Good Steward of your Clients’ Money, I’d like to share an example of how we’re taking steps to make sure we continue to meet and exceed our client’s expectations, despite cuts in spending and tighter budgets.

Maxortunity:
This is just a term I came up with (inspired by Ashley Pinder’s post More than Words Can Say ) to put a name to an approach we like to take with our clients.  It is ensuring we’re maximizing the clients’ investment by taking full advantage of opportunities to further push and expand beyond the scope of current projects.

A great example of this is a project we’re doing on behalf of our client, the Florida High Tech Corridor Council.  A project that began by simply hiring a photographer to take photographs of the people behind the Faces of Technology, an ongoing series of profiles published each year in a magazine we direct in partnership with The Maddux Business Report.

We could have stopped there, but instead we turned this into a maxortunity for our client:  During the photoshoot, we also shot video footage of interviews with each individual. Then back at our office, team discussions spawned an idea that brought to light yet another maxortunity, so pushing this a step further, we created a custom YouTube Channel that was fed into the Web site.   Now users from either the Web site or users just browsing related videos on YouTube can view the stories behind the Faces of Technology …  not only that, but they can share and pass on these stories at will.

What we did was open up new modes of access to the information about the Faces of Technology by broadening our perspective and scope of the initial project (the photo shoot) with minimal impact on our client’s wallet.

The key here is that we have to look for these maxortunities and continue to find ways to give our clients more than they expect without breaking the budget.

Be a Good Steward of your Clients’ Money

by Kimberly Taylor

In today’s ROI-driven business world, keeping expenses down is critical to a company’s bottom line. This is especially true when the global economy is in turmoil. Professional services agencies often bear a double burden. First and foremost, we have to provide maximum benefit for the monies clients spend for our services; and second – and less obvious – we have to be good stewards of expenses we incur on a client’s behalf.

It is not uncommon for advertising or public relations agencies to include a markup – often upwards of 18 percent – to cover the cost of items purchased for clients to conduct day-to-day business. And, whether or not the agency enforces a markup policy or simply passes the cost along to the client, the negotiated rate the agency pays its vendors for those services or products translates directly to what the client pays.

For instance, just a few years ago it wasn’t uncommon to pay $.20 per minute for a long distance telephone call. A month of heavy media pitching for a client could result in an enormous telephone bill for the agency and therefore the client. Given the cost is either marked up or “passed through” to the client, why should the agency waste time negotiating a better rate for those services? The answer: because doing so would make the agency a good steward of its clients’ money.

Examples like this are endless and have been demonstrated throughout our agency from operations to design. In fact, our creative team rarely moves forward with a print project without soliciting multiple bids from printers—something done by choice, not necessity. This approach to client service is a win-win for the agency, since we all know they ultimately have to protect their budgets, as well.

Before entering into a professional services contract, consider not only the fees related to the services the agency is providing, but also read the fine print … what will it cost to have 80 boxes shipped overnight to a trade show you’re attending or how about that last-minute set of brochures that need printing?

The bottom line on the bottom line: Make sure the agency is looking out for your best interests.